Highway toll collecting system

Abstract

When a vehicle has reached an entry gate, toll information, such as the type of the vehicle, time and date, etc. are detected and printed on a passage coupon, which is automatically issued at a certain position corresponding to the type of vehicle to be taken by a driver. A highway toll is collected at an exit gate by reading the information on the passage coupon and calculating toll for the vehicle. The information printed on the passage coupon and the information relative to toll calculation are transmitted together with the information concerning the current state of running on the highway to a central control office. A passage coupon issuance unit disposed at the entry gate contains more passage coupons for regular sized vehicles than for other type of vehicles and issues them through passage coupon issuance ports. When a vehicle has entered the highway without a passage coupon being picked up by a driver on the vehicle, the passage coupon which was not picked up is retracted into the passage coupon issuance port.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A highway toll system for a highway to assess a toll according to different types of vehicles, said system comprising: first vehicle detecting means for automatically detecting a vehicle which has reached an entry point of the toll highway prior to entering and for determining vehicle type information for said vehicle by classifying said vehicle as one of a plurality of different types of vehicles;   passage coupon issuance means for issuing a passage coupon in response to the detection of entry of said vehicle and said vehicle type information determined by said first vehicle detecting means, said passage coupon containing toll information which includes a vehicle type code with said vehicle type information, an entry code indentifying the entry point which has been reached by the vehicle, time and date data, representing the time and date respectively, when the vehicle has reached the entry point, said passage coupon issuing means being located on a path for said vehicle from said entry point to said toll highway;   second vehicle detecting means, located on said path between said toll highway and said entry, for detecting the passage of the vehicle past said passage coupon issuance means and for enabling said passage coupon issuance means to issue another passage coupon for a subsequent vehicle;   toll calculating means, disposed at an exit point of the toll highway reached by said vehicle, for receiving the passage coupon issued by said passage coupon issuance means, for reading said toll information from the passage coupon, for calculating a toll for said vehicle based on the vehicle type code and entry code in said toll information read from the passage coupon, and for displaying said toll;   storing means for storing said toll information read by said toll calculating means and said toll calculated by said toll calculating means together with an exit code identifying the exit point; and   information processing means for processing highway data based on the toll information and tolls stored in said storing means.   
     
     
       2. A highway toll system as defined in claim 1, wherein said passage coupon issuance means comprises: a plurality of hoppers for holding blank passage coupons;   a plurality of passage coupons issuance ports each corresponding to a different one of said types of vehicles;   information writing means for writing said toll information on one of said blank passage coupons in said plurality of hoppers;   conveyance means for conveying passage coupons with said toll information written thereon to one of said plurality of passage coupon issuance ports in accordance with the type of said vehicle; and   recovering means, disposed proximate said plurality of passage coupon issuance ports, for recovering issued passage coupons which have been conveyed to one of said coupon issuance ports but which have not been removed after said second vehicle detecting means detects passage of said vehicles, said recovering means including means for retracting the conveyed passage coupons when said second vehicle detecting means detects the passage of said vehicle.   
     
     
       3. A highway toll system as defined in claim 2, wherein said first vehicle detecting means includes means for classifying a vehicle as regular-sized or large-sized,   wherein said passage coupon issuance ports each comprise a first passage coupon issuance port disposed at a position corresponding to a first predetermined height of regular-sized vehicles;   a second passage coupon issuance port disposed at a position corresponding to a second predetermined height of large-sized vehicles, and   a third passage coupon issuance port disposed between said first and second passage coupon issuance ports at a position corresponding to a height between said first and second predetermined heights; wherein said plurality of hoppers comprise   a first hopper coupled to said first passage coupon issuance port, and   a second hopper coupled to said second and third passage coupon issuance ports; wherein said information writing means comprises   first information writing means coupled to said first hopper, and   second information writing means coupled to said second hopper; and wherein said conveyance means comprises   first conveyance means for conveying to said first passage coupon issuance port passage coupons with information written by said first information writing means, and   second conveyance means for selectively conveying to either of said second and third passage coupon issuance ports passage coupons with information written by said second information writing means.     
     
     
       4. A highway toll system as defined in claim 1, wherein said passage coupon issuance means includes watching means for detecting the presence of a predetermined residual amount of blank passage coupons in said passage coupon issuance means; and   a traffic signal in communication with said watching means for identifying to said vehicle which has reached the entry point which one of a plurality of lanes the vehicle should enter in accordance with said watching means detection of said predetermined residual amount of blank passage coupons.   
     
     
       5. A passage coupon issuing machine for automatically issuing passage coupons for use of a toll road in response to vehicle detecting means' detection of vehicles at an entrance to the toll road, the vehicle detecting means being located proximate the entrance to the toll road and providing entry information, including data regarding the time and date at which vehicles arrived at the entrance, and descriptor information about vehicles at the entrance, each of said passage coupons containing identifier information formed from the entry information and the descriptor information, the coupon issuing machine comprising: a plurality of passage coupon issuance ports from which the passage coupons are issued;   a first passage coupon issuance mechanism including a first hopper holding a first group of unused passage coupons containing no identifier information,   first writing means for writing identifer information onto ones of said first group of passage coupons, and   first conveyance means for conveying said ones of said first group of passage coupon containing identifier information into a first set of said plurality of passage coupon issuance ports;     a second passage coupon issuance mechanism including a second hopper holding a second group of unused passage coupons containing no identifier information,   second writing means for writing identifier inf mation onto ones of said second group of passage coupons, and   second conveyance means for conveying said ones of said passage coupons containing identifier information into a second set of passage coupon issuance ports, said second set of passage coupon issuance ports not being included in said first set of said passage coupon issuance ports; and     control means for selectively driving and controlling one of said first or second passage coupon issuance mechanisms based on said identifier information.   
     
     
       6. A passage coupon issuance machine as set forth in claim 5 wherein the descriptor information includes vehicle size information identifying entering vehicles as either regular-sized, medium-sized, or large-sized, such that regular-sized vehicles are smaller than medium-sized vehicles, and medium-sized vehicles are smaller than large-sized vehicles; and wherein said plurality of passage coupon issuance ports comprises a first issuance port disposed at a first position corresponding to the height of regular-sized vehicles,   a second issuance port disposed at a second position, higher than said first position, and corresponding to the height of medium-sized vehicles, and   a third issuance port disposed at a third position, higher than said second position, and corresponding to the height of large-sized vehicles; and     wherein said first conveyance means includes means for conveying passage coupons only to said first issuance port; and   wherein said second conveyance means includes means for conveying passage coupons selectively into either said second issuance port or said said third issuance port according to said vehicle size information.   
     
     
       7. A passage coupon issuance machine as set forth in claim 6, wherein said first passage coupon issuance mechanism further includes first residual amount detecting means for detecting a first minimum amount of said first group of unused passage coupons in said first hopper, and   first abnormality detecting means for detecting malfunctions in the conveyance of said first group of passage coupons;     wherein said second passage coupon issuance mechanism further includes second residual amount detecting means for detecting a second minimum amount of said second group of unused passage coupons in said second hopper, and   second abnormality detecting means for detecting malfunctions in the conveyance of said second group of passage coupons; and     wherein said control means includes means for driving one of said first or second passage coupon issuance mechanisms when, in the other one of said first or second passage coupon issuance mechanisms, the corresponding one of said first or second residual amount detecting means detects fewer than said first or second minimum amounts of passage coupons or when the corresponding one of said first or second abnormality detecting means detects a malfunction in conveyance.   
     
     
       8. A passage coupon issuance machine as set forth in claim 7 wherein said second conveyance means includes means for responding to either said first residual amount detecting means' detection of fewer than said first minimum amount of passage coupons or said first abnormality detecting means' detection of a malfunction in conveyance by conveying passage coupons into said second issuance port when said vehicle size information identifies an entering vehicle as regular-sized or medium-sized, and by conveying passage coupons into said third issuance port when said vehicle size information identifies said entering vehicle as large-sized.   
     
     
       9. A passage coupon issuing machine for automatically issuing passage coupons for use of a toll road in response to vehicle detecting means' detection of entry of vehicles at an entrance to the toll road, the vehicle detecting means being located proximate the entrance to the toll road and providing entry information, including data regarding the time and date at which vehicles arrived at the entrance, and descriptor information, including size information indicating whether each vehicle is regular-sized, medium-sized, or large-sized such that large-sized vehicles are larger than said medium-sized vehicles and mediumsized vehicles are larger than said regular-sized vehicles, each of said passage coupons containing identifier information formed from the entry and descriptor information, said passage coupon issuing machine comprising: a first passage coupon issuance port from which passage coupons are issued, said first passage coupon issuance port being disposed at a first position corresponding to the height of regular-sized vehicles;   a second passage coupon issuance port from which passage coupons are issued, said second passage coupon issuance port being disposed at a second position, higher than said first position, corresponding to the height of medium-sized vehicles;   a third passage coupon issuance port from which passage coupons are issued, said third passage coupon issuance port being disposed at a third position, higher than said second position, corresponding to the height of large-sized vehicles;   a first passage coupon issuance mechanism including a first hopper holding a first group of unused passage coupons containing no identifier information,   first writing means for writing identifier information onto ones said said first group of unused passage coupons, and   first conveyance means for conveying said ones of said first group of passage coupons containing identifier information into a first set of said first passage coupon issuance ports;   a second passage coupon issuance mechanism including a second hopper holding a second group of unused passage coupons containing no identifier information,   second writing means for writing identifier information onto ones of said second group of unused passage coupons, and   second conveyance means for selectively conveying said ones of said second group of passage coupons containing identifier information into either said second or said third passage coupon issuance ports; and     control means for driving said first passage coupon issuance mechanism when the size information identifies one of said vehicles as regular-sized, for driving said second passage coupon issuance mechanism and for causing said second conveyance means to convey passage coupons to said second passage coupon issuance port when the size information identifies one of said vehicles as medium-sized, and for driving said second passage coupon issuance mechanism and for causing the second conveyance means to convey passage coupons into said third passage coupon issuance port when the size information identifies one of said vehicles as large-sized.   
     
     
       10. A passage coupon issuance machine as set forth claim 9 wherein said first passage coupon issuance mechanism further includes first residual amount detecting means for detecting a first minimum amount of said first group of unused passage coupons in said first hopper, and   first abnormality detecting means for detecting malfunctions in the conveyance of said first group of passage coupons;     wherein said second passage coupon issuance mechanism further includes second residual amount detecting means for detecting   a second minimum amount of said second group of unused passage coupons in said second hopper, and second abnormality detecting means for detecting malfunctions in the conveyance of said second group of passage coupons; and     wherein said control means includes means for driving one of said first or second coupons issuance mechanisms when, in the other one of said first or second coupon issuance mechanisms, the corresponding one of said first or second residual amount detecting means detects fewer than said first or second minimum amount of passage coupons, or when the corresponding one of siad first or second one of said detecting means detects a malfunction in conveyance.   
     
     
       11. A passage coupon issuance machine as set forth in claim 10 wherein said second conveyance means includes means for responding either to said first residual amount detecting means' detection of fewer than said minimum amount of coupons or said first abnormality detecting means' detection of a malfunction in conveyance by conveying passage coupons into said second issuance port when the vehicle size information identifies an entering vehicle as regular-sized or medium-sized, and by conveying passage coupons into said third issuance port when the descriptor information identifies an entering vehicle as large-sized.